Emma Raducanu has endured a challenging start to 2026, but former British No 1 Laura Robson insists she is ‘not concerned’ by the uncertainty around the British No 1.
After an injury-disrupted off-season, Raducanu was beaten in the second round of the Australian Open and promptly announced she was parting company with her coach, Francisco Roig, after the opening Grand Slam of the year.
She has suffered health and fitness issues in her matches since then, with some observers expressing concern over her ability to last the pace with the best players in the game.
Now Robson has urged Raducanu’s critics to reserve their judgement on a player who has confirmed she will be working with coach Mark Petchey once again for the WTA 1000 tournament at Indian Wells that gets underway next week.
Speaking exclusively to Tennis365 at a Sky Sports Tennis event in London, Robson offered up an upbeat view of Raducanu’s ambitions as she looks to build momentum in her season.
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“We always make such a big deal out of Emma changing a coach,” said Robson. “Petch is obviously someone who she gets on really well with and they obviously have a lot of the same ideas.
“Whether he has the time to do it on a longer term basis, I don’t know, but I think Emma should feel confident.
“We’ve seen her matches against [Aryna] Sabalenka last year and they were close, so she has to take a lot from that.
“What she needs to do is have a clear identity and a clear mindset on what she wants to do on court and when she does that, she has shown she can compete with the top players.”
Laura Robson is a Sky Sports Tennis analyst
The debate over whether Raducanu needs a full-time coach has been raging since her decision to part company with Roig, with Robson admitting there is no clear answer.
“You need someone with you for all the boring stuff like booking practice courts, finding someone to hit with and restringing, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be a coach that does that,” added Robson.
“She’s got Alexis [hitting partner Alexis Canter] with her and he can do that, so it’s what you need as and when.
“At the moment, she has gone back to Petch because she knows him well and it seems to go well when they link up.”
Former British No 1 Tim Henman also spoke to Tennis365 about Raducanu, as he admitted she needs to ensure she is not left behind by rising young stars in the women’s game.
“She’s 23, you know, and there’s plenty of 18, 19, 20-year-olds now on the tour, who are overtaking her,” stated Henman.”You can’t stand still, but she’s still very good player.
“It’s just my belief, and I think a lot of other people’s belief that she could be a lot better. And that’s an exciting, that’s an exciting thing. There’s no doubt that the scrutiny is a lot more for Emma than others, but she is used to that now.
“She’s 25 in the world, but a lot of us believe she can be a lot better. It will be exciting to see whether she can make that step now.
“It has been too stop start. Whether it is a change of coach or a physical setback. She has to become physically more resilient to be faster and stronger to compete with the biggest hitters.”
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